a feminist
a vegan
a nomad
a quitter
a road trip
a girlboss
a pushover.

ORE N DA 1

THIS ISSUE
WE AR E
F OR T H E
WI L D
P L AC E S

TH E
F
WOR D

8

LET
THEM
E AT
CAKE

DAY
TIME
ROAD
TRIP

13

20
40
31

BO R N
I N T HE
WRON G
ERA

D ON ’T
HAV E A
COW,
M AN

12

39
G L I T T E R B UG

32

2 OREN DA

LITTLE
WOR L D S

30

DE AT H
POSTER

27

A BOU T
THE
WORK

18
24

# GI R L BO S S

ON
LIV IN G
YOUR
TRUTH

46

44

THE
E XP E R I ENCED
QUI T T E R

WH E N
PUS H
CO M E S TO
S H OV E

THE
AG E O F
SELF
ENTITLEMENT

28

ORE N DA 3

Orenda:

The invocation of the power of human will to
change the world around us. (from the Huron language)
Orenda is a magazine created for people just like you:
it’s smart, young, modern, resourceful, all-inclusive, independant
and kick-ass. It is messy, imperfect, eclectic and probably swears
more than it’s mother would like. It features stories about real,
everyday-but-extraordinary things and people that you will find
insightful, thought-provoking and interesting.
It’s for entertainment, aesthetics (whilst recognising that there is
much, much more to life) and to give you a bit of a helping hand
in that wonderful time of your life where you’re expected to
know exactly what you’re doing but you just don’t.
Orenda is for you.

WE ARE FOR THE WILD
PLACES • GLITTERBUG •
DAYTIME ROAD TRIP
CAL BEHRENDT is a Law/
Journalism student who
spends most of his waking
hours watching TV or
listening to music. If not,
he can be found playing
football or hockey.
blogwhatmagnitude.
wordpress.com

WHEN PUSH COMES TO
SHOVE • THE F WORD
• BORN IN THE WRONG
ERA • THE EXPERIENCED
QUITTER
KATIE FORAN is cat person.
She is also a dog person.
She’s not, however, a
people person. As a
Media Communications
graduate, Katie now lives
in what she refers to as
‘the in-between’, where
people are willing to give
you a job but only if you
work for free.
If she’s not re-reading
Harry Potter you can
find her binge watching
Gilmore Girls. If you are
what you eat she’s a cup
of English Breakfast.

EDITOR/GRAPHIC
DESIGNER
SOPHIA JEANNE is a
19-year-old
graphic
designer, who will be
based in Melbourne
three days after this
issue is launched. She’s
taught English at a school
for Blind and PartiallySighted
students
in
Poland, learnt to speak &
read a few languages and
has been a vegetarian
(minus a snail) for 6 years.
This year, she's going to
start a degree in graphic
design, re-start yoga and
read 40 books.
uneamourette.com

twitter.com/kattieelouise

ORE N DA 5

CONTRIBUTORS
We get by with a lot of help from our friends.

DON’T HAVE A COW, MAN
SOPHIE
HUNTER-ROSE
is an ethical vegan
and passionate liberal
feminist who is always
looking for ways to
expand the horizons of
people’s knowledge and
bring some light into
others lives.
Of course, most of this is
just passive-aggressive
posting on social media...
but a little is living with
as much respect and nonviolence as she can. She
hopes you’re all having
a wonderful day and, if
not, that tomorrow will be
better.

THE

AGE OF SELFENTITLEMENT

SAMMY BATTAGLENE is a
far too opinionated chick
who has a tendency to
live outside the moment
and gloriously relive it
through an overthinking,
highly imaginative, and
scattered mind.
notliterallydreaming.
wordpress.com

fluffyplant.tumblr.com

Thanks to Sophia’s parents for proofreading the final copy.
6 OREN DA

ON LIVING YOUR TRUTH
JON TALBOT is a parttime lover and a full-time
friend, passionate about
traveling. Not in the
sense of checking sights
off a list, but more in
the abstract (somewhat
clichéd) way of making
the experience more
about the journey rather
than the destination.
Vehemently curious.
Endlessly challenging
what it means to be a
millennial. Steadfast in
the belief that life should
not be postponed, but
lived. From sailing to
Antarctica to hitch-hiking
across Europe, Jon has
seen some stuff and met
some people. Not bad for
an American, eh?

MADI RYAN is a 22 year
old artist from the South
Coast of Australia, freshly
graduated
from
the
University of Wollongong
with a Bachelor of
Creative Arts (Visual Arts) .
She creates colourful and
strange artworks, heavily
influenced by comic
books, pop-culture, 90’s
cartoons and all things
colour.
She works with materials
such as acrylic ink, graphic
markers, paint pens, spray
paint and digital painting
with Photoshop.

MATILDA
“TILLY”
ROBERTS is
a
22
year old natural light
photographer. When she
was 16, photography
introduced her to her
love affair with light, and
she is forever grateful.
In 2012, during her
first year of university,
she
officially
began
‘Fearless Photography’.
She labels herself as a
‘lifestyle photographer’
as she doesn’t limit
herself to any one genre
of photography - she
photographs
anything
and everything: weddings,
portraits, music, even
birth sessions. She’s there
for the life moments!

LAURA
COLE
is
a
Communications/
Business
student,
working 2 jobs whilst also
managing her own events
business. She can relate
to the quote: “Normal is
getting dressed in clothes
that you buy for work and
driving through traffic
in a car that you are still
paying for – in order to
get to the job you need
to pay for the clothes and
the car, and the house
you leave vacant all day
so you can afford to live
in it.”
... She’s so busy working
hard for a great life that
she often forgets to
actually live.

fearless-photography.com

pinterest.com/eventsr

facebook.com/madiryanart

THE F WORD
WORDS BY KATIE FORAN

8 OREN DA

W HE N I WAS ABOUT SEV ENTEEN YEARS O LD
I was sitting with a group of friends watching some mindless
television show where a character said jokingly, ‘We all have that
crazy, feminist friend!’ All eyes in the room, boys and girls alike,
turned to me and laughed. I can’t remember if I laughed with
them. How strange it is to think back to that moment and consider that all the girls in that room went on to finish high-school
(some with particularly high HSC results) and are now pursuing
careers in everything from media to medicine. As for the boys,
they have never once expected anything less of us. Despite a
joking debate of why boys are better than girls (and vice versa)
none of us have ever truly believed that they are not equal to
the other. It is likely that we will still not feel a real difference for
another couple of years when we join the work force in pursuit
of successful careers.
I have been passionately considering and writing about feminism since I can remember. In primary school, when faced with
an argument on which gender is better I replied: “I can wear
skirts and shorts. I can wear pink and blue. I can play netball and
soccer. I can grow a baby inside me. Can you?” Of course the real
answer to three out of four of those questions is probably YES.
But at that age, with the boys I knew, it was a definite no. In defending my tormentor/s I was being a little sexist in my own way,
but I think we can all agree that this is a deep-stemmed passion
of mine (feminism, not sexism, just so we’re clear).
At high school, each year in English we were required to write
and give a public speech. Every year, without realizing it, I wrote a
feminist speech. Never did I say (unless jokingly) that women are
better than men, I just passionately highlighted the wonderful,
often overlooked, attributes that the female gender possessed.
One year I wrote about how wonderful men were and how, given
the feminist waves, sometimes we neglected to recognize this. I
am pro-humans, basically.

ORE N DA 9

Needless to say, it really grinds my gears when
individuals blatantly belittle women as being less than men. Not to point fingers- but
I’ve seen a pattern among the aging, whitehaired, male politicians in America who seem
to believe that women are not as smart, not as
strong, not as important, as they are. I would
like to smack them in the face, I mean, I would
like to politely ask them to provide evidence
to suggest that women are not as capable as
they are at being human. Much like I feel anger
at those who believe that a certain
shade of skin or sexual preference
seems to remove a person from
the ‘human’ category.

was that you were you saying?
Sarcasm aside, I do not mean to be negative.
To quote one of my favourite feminists, Tine
Fey, who once quoted some other feminist
(just so many of those weirdos!) “There’s a
special place in hell for women who do not
help other women.” Or maybe that was Taylor
Swift (ironically, another non-feminist-female)
who said that? I don’t know. My point, and I
do have one, is that I thought I would let you
know what a feminist really is
and why, despite what you think,
you are one of them.

I AM
PROHUMANS,
BASICALLY.

So you could imagine my absolute shock upon reading Shailene
Woodley’s (actress in ‘Divegent’
and ‘The Fault In Our Stars’) comments earlier this year regarding the matter, “…
I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women
to power, take the men away from the power’
is never going to work out because you need
balance.”

My dearest girl, I too love men and believe in
balance. In fact, I love balance so much that I
just looked it up in the thesaurus which told
me that ‘equalize’ was its synonym. Just for
fun, I Googled equalize and it turns out that
feminists (you know those crazy, lesbian manhaters?) aim to equalize the opportunities and
success of men and women, therefore creating
balance between the genders. I’m sorry, what

10 OREN DA

Feminism began when women
grew tired of men speaking, thinking and deciding for them. Upon
realizing their own strength,
women spoke up for themselves
and fought over years and through actual torture, to ensure that they were heard. When
women found their voices, they then found independent thought and educated themselves,
opening up opportunities that have lead to
discoveries and contributions that changed
the world socially, scientifically, environmentally etc. Their voices have since grown louder,
despite the constant threat of being drowned
out by their deeper counterparts. Today, it is
perhaps the loudest they have ever been because basically, everyone in the western world
(other than those creepy politicians discussed
above) have joined them, are acknowledging
them as, oh I don’t know, independent human

beings? If you think about it, the history of
women portrays what some might call a social
divergence (my puns will never cease to entertain me).
It is to your own downfall that, at the time of
that interview, you were not aware of the definition of a feminist. Given the frenzy that the
internet went into afterwards, I am confident
that you now have a better understanding that
without feminism, your movie roles would be
made up of silly, giggling girls who swoon for
the handsome hero, as opposed to the strong,
heroine who holds her own.
Please don’t let your pride get in the way of correcting your misunderstanding of the ‘F word’.
You are not alone in shying away from the word.
My suggestion is that perhaps as we ride this
third wave of feminism (oh yes, it is happening)
that we label it something else. If it is the connotations to the word that you fear, perhaps referring to it as ‘equalism’ or ‘common-sensism’,
would get you, and other young women who
are too detached from the reality of our history,
on board.
There is a place for women in this world, there
is a place for feminists, and that place is standing side-by-side our men. As fucking equals.
by their deeper counterparts. Today, it is perhaps the loudest they have ever been because
basically, everyone in the western world (other

than those creepy politicians discussed above)
have joined them, are acknowledging them as,
oh I don’t know, independent human beings?
If you think about it, the history of women portrays what some might call a social divergence
(my puns will never cease to entertain me).
It is to your own downfall that, at the time of
that interview, you were not aware of the definition of a feminist. Given the frenzy that the
internet went into afterwards, I am confident
that you now have a better understanding that
without feminism, your movie roles would be
made up of silly, giggling girls who swoon for
the handsome hero, as opposed to the strong,
heroine who holds her own.
Please don’t let your pride get in the way of correcting your misunderstanding of the ‘F word’.
You are not alone in shying away from the word.
My suggestion is that perhaps as we ride this
third wave of feminism (oh yes, it is happening)
that we label it something else. If it is the connotations to the word that you fear, perhaps referring to it as ‘equalism’ or ‘common-sensism’,
would get you, and other young women who
are too detached from the reality of our history,
on board.
There is a place for women in this world, there
is a place for feminists, and that place is standing side-by-side our men. As fucking equals.

ORE N DA 11

DON'T HAVE A COW, MAN
WORDS BY SOPHIE HUNTER-ROSE

WE ALL KNOW ONE.
Maybe they’re your weird relative, the
eccentric girl at school, or that one guy on
Facebook that never stops posting about
animals. That’s right, we’re talking about the
dreaded Vegan. It’s funny, because before I
went vegan, or even vegetarian, I saw them as
aliens: Chicken loving, earth hugging, radical
Greenies, they were just plain weird. But in a
way it was just because I always felt a little
guilty. Now don’t get me wrong, this article
isn’t going to call you a hypocrite or abuse
you for eating animals. I just want to share
how your whole world can change because
of a single decision.

you want. But this wasn’t enough. For a year I
researched. I read articles on protein, human
evolution, sentience, calcium, how you can
make meringue from chickpeas and bacon
from carrots. I discussed my latest discoveries
of agricultural practices and pig’s feelings
over dinner. I started eating less meat, and
so did my family. I wanted to phase it out,
to get a feel for what being vegetarian was
like. My New Year’s Resolution of 2014 was
to go vegetarian. And despite the scepticism
of how effective resolutions are, I stuck to it.
Two years later and I’m sitting here, slurping
my almond-milk-berry smoothie and
watching my dog roll around at my feet.
I’ve been vegan for 545 days (not that I’m
counting) and I’ve never been happier. I’ve
never been really focused on my diet and
what I put into my body, and to be honest, I’m
still not. Trust me, not every vegan is a skinny
yoga-doing lentil-eating hippy. I eat way
too much cake and probably have pizza too
often, but in the end, I’m not doing it for me.
I’m doing it as a form of activism. I’m doing
it for the approximately 9 billion chickens
killed for their flesh every year in the United
States alone [1]. I want to raise awareness for
what’s causing 51% of greenhouse gases[2].
But most importantly, I’m doing it because I
care.

I was fourteen when I first met her. Her hair
shimmered like the sea and her eyes were
the sun high above. However this not was not
why I loved her. It was when she spoke - and
oh, how she spoke - that I would get a glimpse
into another world. It was a plane of existence
where we were all one. Where the smallest
ant was just as worthy of life as the grandest
elephant. It was fascinating to watch her pick
a slug off the concrete path and place it in
a bush, to feed sugar-water to dying bees.
When I was fourteen, I understood what it
meant to be vegan. It meant not drawing a
line between dogs and chickens, cats and
pigs. It meant living life treading as gently on
1 - HTTP://WWW.UPC-ONLINE.ORG/
the Earth as you can. It meant living kindly.
CHICKENS/CHICKENSBRO.HTML

For the next two years I tried to push away 2 - HTTP://WWW3.EPA.GOV/
the feelings. In my mum’s words, it was easier CLIMATECHANGE/GHGEMISSIONS/GLOBAL.
to eat meat. Just eat what you’re given and HTML
when you move out you can eat all the lentils
12 ORE NDA

"Do you think because
you touched me
you know me?
You're just a boy
and I have galaxies
growing inside me."

16 ORE NDA

ORE N DA 17

WORDS BY KATIE FORAN

when
push
comes
to
shove

I am a nice person. Another way I could
phrase that sentence is: I am a real
pushover. A doormat. A pussy.
I love going to concerts, it’s such a rush!
There’s something about the sweaty pit
of people, being merely metres away
from your favourite performers, the
visual movement of the music. There
is nothing quite like it. When I buy
tickets for concerts I almost always go
for general admission standing and see
how my luck plays out, how close I can
get to the stage. After my most recent
concert however, I’ve realized that I just
don’t have the right personality to ever
even get close.
You see, it’s the die-hard fans with their
aggressive attitudes and sharp elbows
18 ORE NDA

that make their way to the front. I am
the contrary. I never step too close to
the person in front of me. If sweaty,
dehydrated people are making their
way out of the mosh pit I squeeze aside
to let them through. I zip through gaps
when I see them, never pushing, never
invading anyone’s space. Stupid, little,
naïve me thinks that seeing as I afford
such politeness to others, they will
obviously return the favour.
Not so.
Earlier this year I had a pretty good
spot at a Paramore concert. And, by
that, I mean I could see. I am 160cm
small, which if you’re not familiar with
the metric system, is short. General
admission standing tickets and
struggling with vertical challenges is
itself, not ideal. Let alone being pushed
and shoved by people so much taller
than you they probably thought you
were a rock under their shoe. Essentially,
if I can find a spot where I can see, I’m
a happy gal. At this particular concert
however I was pushed and shoved
between spots and two out of three
times, all I saw was shoulders. My neck
ached, I was covered in other peoples’
sweat (as they do not show me the
same courtesy by leaving even a ten
centimetre gap between us) and I was
feeling ripped off. I was at the receiving
end of various elbows and as unenticing
as all of this is, I expected nothing less.
What really aggravated me were the
people ‘exiting’ the war of the mosh pit.
Courteously, I moved aside to let them

through, and rather impertinently, they
decided to stop and stand in the space
I made. This happened at least a dozen
times. So much so, that I got separated
from my two friends who were now
metres away from me on the other side
of a wall of people.
Imagine if you can, standing alone at a
concert, the temperature is at least fifty
degrees; all you can see is the sweaty
bodies of people jumping around. The
girl in front of you is so into the song
that she is actually gyrating up and
down, but because there is no concept
of personal space, you are copping
all of it. At this very moment I wanted
nothing but to get the hell out of there.
My friends were barely in sight, I knew
any movement would see me lose
them; possibly forever.
It took all of my strength and my love of
music, to just close my eyes and listen.
I had to relax and let it wash over me.
Amongst all of this, I found my happy
place until the moment my friend was
able to yank me back through the crowd.
We were reunited again and things got
considerably better.
When I returned home the next day
I was met with my mum’s ‘How was
it?’ Images of the sweaty, aggressive,
impolite crowd filled my mind. I rubbed
my neck which still ached a little and
said, ‘It was awesome!’

ORE N DA 19

AVAL AN C HE CIT Y

WE ARE FOR THE WILD PL ACES
THERE IS A LOT TO BE SAID
about the Indie Folk genre.
While you will often see
bands like Mumford & Sons
and The Lumineers dominate
discussions about the current
state of the genre, it is quite
often the smaller bands that
get the most mileage out
of the ideas promoted by
the genre. Avalanche City
are one of those bands that
have quietly gone about
their business and produced
some of the best music
the genre has to offer, and
the band’s newest album,
We Are For The Wild Places,
may just be the very best
the genre has to offer.
Kicking off this New Zealand
band’s sophomore effort
after the fantastic 2011
debut Our New Life Above The
Ground is I Need You, a track
that drops us immediately
into the theme of the album:
Relationships
between
ourselves and others. With
a piano part that allows the
rest of the track to be built
from it, the song makes
the most of Dave Baxter’s
2 0 OREN DA

voice and keeps the lyrics
floating around in your head,
especially around the chorus,
where the whole track comes
together to get your foot
tapping and singing along.
We then get a fantastic shift
in tone from this track to
Keep Finding A Way, which
kicks off with trumpets and a
marching band feel, keeping
your foot tapping throughout
the track. Again we are treated
to Dave Baxter’s enthusiastic
vocals which keeps the track
moving. With a more frantic
pace, the album seems
to struggle a little in its
transition to the next song
on the work in Fault Lines.

“Avalanche City
are one of those
bands that have
quietly gone
about their
business and
produced some of
the best music the
genre has to
offer.”

Don’t get me wrong, Fault
Lines is one of my favorite
tracks off the album, but
I can’t help but feel the
album dropped a ball here
in picking a slower song to
follow straight after such a
frantic piece (by indie folk
standards). Fault Lines is
still a masterful work. With
a main chorus that is almost
impossible not to sing along
with, the track is one that
had an immediate effect on
me, driving me to want to
do more, and with a rather
constant and heavy beat
behind the track, the song
has that driving feel about it.
This driving feel fades away
quickly at the end of the
track and lets us relax rather
well into the following Inside
Out, which was the first
single released off of this
album back in April 2015.
With a relaxing opening
before moving to a more
emotional chorus which
echoes in your head, the
track does well in layering
on more and more until the
explosion in the bridge of the

song. Here we get to listen to
the main difference between
albums, as more unique
instruments will come to the
forefront of the track (such
as the use of trumpets yet
again) and it really makes
the difference in this track.
However, it takes until the
next track, The Midnight/
We Never Had Much, where
the album makes its first
tiny misstep. The track
starts off really strong, with
a foot tapping guitar part,
a grooving drum beat and
lyrical excellence from Dave
Baxter. However, this track
suffers the classic issue any
longer song will face, which is
“how the hell can I keep this

“This track is
something
completely
different from
anything the
band has done,
and it pays off
really well”
up for 6+ minutes?” Much
like Ends In The Ocean/Oh Life
from the first album, the song
struggles in the back half as
there is not much going on
and while the track is rather
relaxing, it feels a bit of a
let down after the amazing
first 4 minutes of the track.
However, the album picks up
almost instantly in Wild Places

WORDS BY CAL BEHRENDT

I. A relaxing track that serves
as the halfway point in the
album, this song maintains
a simple riff and lets Dave
Baxter craft the song entirely
through lyrics. This is a risky
move, but it pays off really
well here, as Baxter tells a
really enjoyable story while
slowly letting the instruments
build up in the background
but never overtaking the
main focus of this track.
The next track, Rabbit, allows
a further exploration of
unique instruments being
put in, with the track kicking
off with a xylophone and
allowing the piano to take
more of a main role in this
track, providing the main riff
throughout the song. Rabbit
examines how nothing will
stop us as we try to reach our
goals, and the song works
very well in that aspect,
being another song off the
album that works well as one
to get you motivated and one
that keeps you foot tapping
along with it. The album
then moves into Don’t Fall
Asleep, which with it’s short
length, makes it probably the
weakest track on the album,
but it still does it job superbly
in telling an emotional tale in
the two minutes is has while

ORE N DA 21

keeping the tune relaxing.
As we move towards the
back end of the album, we
are treated to my personal
favorite track in Little Fire,
which from the very get
go has a feel much like
Avalanche
City’s
earlier
song Sunset. With a bouncy
feel good tone flowing from
the song all while balancing
the relaxing feel, the song
allows you to feel happy
no matter the situation
you are in. Again we hear a
xylophone, this time being
the main part of the chorus
and this simple addition
increases the enjoyment of
the track tenfold. But for me
the most interesting part is
the bridge, where the track
takes on a more serious tone,
adding trumpets and layering
over
several
different
instruments to give a real
complete feel to the track.
From this song we then
transition into Giving Me A
Sign, which is a more slower
track and seems like it could
have been swapped with
Keep Finding A Way in order

2 2 OREN DA

to make a real slow and soft
opening to the album, but here
it works just as well. With a
more somber tone, the track
feels more emotional than it
really is, and where this would
normally not work at all, the
track salvages it by sprinkling
in softer instruments and Dave
Baxter’s vocals. The track feels
a little out of place so late in
the album, but it is still quite
a enjoyable song. It also leads
quite well into the final track
of the album, Wild Places II.

“How the hell can
I keep this up for
6+ minutes?”
Wild Places II, seemingly a
continuation of Wild Places I,
tries to do something different,
with an almost synth opening
really confusing me the first
time I heard it. Here the
drumming takes full control of
the track, with each accented
beat and marching band roll
adding to the build of the
track. However it is the chorus
where this track takes it up

a notch, layering a real rock
sound to blow the mind of any
listener. This track is something
completely different from
anything the band has done,
and it pays off really well in this
final track. Allowing the track
to rise and fall several times
benefits the song throughout,
and is a real accurate
depiction of the album itself.
We Are For The Wild Places is
an album that blew me out
of the water. Despite being a
massive fan of Our New Life
Above The Ground, I was not
expecting much from this
album, especially after being
a little let down by another
Indie Folk artist’s new release
from 2015 (cough Josh Pyke
cough) but Avalanche City
made a fool out of me for
doubting. The four year wait
was worth every minute of
this album and there is little
doubt that it will be up there
in my choices for album of the
year, alongside The Wombats’
Glitterbug and The Fratellis’
Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied.

ORE N DA 23

#GirlBoss

Laura Cole recently
launched Events Royale
– a wedding and events
consultancy which offers
an array of packages to
cater for all budgets and
assist in the planning and
coordinating of events
throughout Central West
NSW.

Tell us - what does being a business owner mean to
you and why did you became an entrepreneur in the
first place?

We interviewed Laura to
see what motivates her
as a young entrepreneur
and to gain some advice
for those of you perhaps
considering
opening
your own small business.

For Events Royale, this will mean managing selected events free
of charge for non-for-profit community groups, and providing
opportunities to high school and university students to work
with vendors in their specialised area of talent, in order to
build local networks rather than having to head to the city to
complete internships.

My passion for weddings and previous experience in helping
to manage events was really the key driver in why I opened
Events Royale, but being a business owner is so much more –
it’s about using the newfound freedom to make a difference.
There’s something liberating about being able to decide how
much work you want to take on and what risks you’re willing to
take, however you need to be able to use your power to make a
positive impact on the community.

What or who has been your greatest influence in
business?

At the back of my mind for the last 12 months, has been a desire
to open a small business, then last month I attended Business
Chicks’ inaugural 9 to Thrive expo in Sydney where I was exposed
to some of Australia’s most successful companies (where I
received so many great freebies… always a bonus!) and was
introduced to Australia’s leading female ‘movers and breakers’
(those ladies who started with nothing and broke through glass
ceilings to build an empire), and it was here that key speakers
such as the amazing Emma Isaacs, Lorraine Murphy, Shelley
Barrett, Michelle Bridges, Dr Libby, Sarah Wilson and Zoe Foster
Blake, encouraged me to forget about the possible risks and just
jump!

24 ORE NDA

What’s the best businee advice you’ve received?

“There is no right time, do what you’re passionate about,
dedicate yourself to your clients and before too long you will
build more experience and knowledge than you could ever
imagine.”

What has been the most effective marketing
initiatives or programs you have used to promote
your business?

Exposure across various channels of social media. As young
people, we’re already aware of how attached we are to social
media for communication, but as a business owner it is important
to understand the power social networking plays as a marketing
initiative. Whilst Events Royale has only been launched for a
couple of weeks and its website and social media pages are
still developing, the feedback and requests from potential
clients has already been outstanding, which just goes to show
how effective social media is in sending out a rapid message to
numerous markets.

What one thing have you learned as a small business
owner that will serve you well over the years?

You need to learn how to establish a balance between your
work and personal life, yet still be willing to work 24/7 and go
above and beyond to serve the best interests of clients – if this
means drawing up a mood board or emailing 20 vendors at 3am
on a Wednesday morning, that’s what needs to be done.

What is the biggest goal that you plan to accomplish
over the next year?
Whilst most businesses are established with profit-focused
goals, I launched Events Royale with the hope of gaining greater
experience and promoting the unique services and talents our
local region offers, in an attempt of encouraging clients to
support our local vendors rather than hosting their events in
major cities.

"If this
means ...
emailing 20
vendors at
3am on a
Wednesday
morning,
that's what
needs to be
done."

My ambition as a small business owner is to also work hard in
establishing my image over the next 12 months, in order to
make it as a nominee in our local Carillion Business Awards
later in 2016.

ORE N DA 25

"There is only one ingredient we need for
the recipe to success - a proactive attitude."
What is one important habit or routine that you do
daily?

Some may argue that it’s unhealthy to wake up and
immediately jump on our phones, but I do this to reply to all
email requests then I start my day feeling like I’ve decluttered
some of the spam from my life, then I have a good breakfast
and map out my day’s to do list, before either heading to the
gym or straight into work.

What is your view on young entrepreneurs like
yourself?

It’s so empowering to see young people work hard and succeed,
it really gives a positive impression to those who see the
younger generation as lazy and dependent. I think we [the
younger generation] are gifted with advanced technologies and
countless opportunities for free online networking, that there is
no reason for why we can’t succeed, there is only one ingredient
we need for the recipe to success – a proactive attitude.
Reading the Young Entrepreneur Rich List, it is evident how many
successful entrepreneurs, aged 25 and under have utilised the
internet in building their careers. In addition, it is inspiring to
count how many of these people were high school ‘dropouts’.
In my eyes, one’s ability to defy all odds and make something
great of themselves says more than a grade on a piece of paper.

As your final words, what is your one vital piece of
advice for absolutely anyone?
Network! No matter who you are, or what your goals are, there
is nothing more valuable than the connections you build when
you invest your time and effort into networking.
You can find Laura at @Events_Royale on Instagram or Facebook.

2 6 OREN DA

ABOUT
THE

WORK

<
v

PG. 23
PG. 38

WITH PHOTOGRAPHER TILLY ROBERTS

"These works were created in an effort to push myself to create art in any
way I can, which includes creating art on the go with an iPhone.
Both works were shot and edited on an iPhone, using a combination of the
VSCO and Afterlight apps.
The works were also an attempt to highlight the notion that expensive and
extensive equipment is not needed to create art.
Art can be created with any tools available to you."

Our cover model this issue is the beautiful Kendi Muthomi, styled
by Emma Murphy from Lola Design Blog (loladesignblog.com)
and photographed by Tilly Roberts.
Kendi moved to Canberra with her family when she was five and
graduated college in 2013. She was scouted into HAUS Models
at the end of her last year in college. In the two years since
graduating, Kendi has become a fully qualified makeup artist (she
did her makeup pictured!)
Just recently she said goodbye to HAUS Models to pursue a
freelance career.
Kendi has been involved in countless fashion and beauty
editorials, and had walked at FASHFEST - Canberra's number one
fashion parade - consecutively for the last two years.
If you're interested in hiring Kendi to model, send an email to
kendi_muthomi@hotmail.com.
ORE N DA 27

The Age of Sel

WORDS BY SAM
Every morning as I lie in bed procrastinating the day ahead while scannin
at least one item or post where the author seems to believe I need advice
choices, down to the type of music I listen to. Of course I tend to read the
day ahead, as they tend to give me a reason to stop reading social media. W
with 4 different types of accusers ranging in aggression an

THE “I’M TOO
COOL FOR YOU”

THE MUM
TACTIC

These guys aren’t terribly offensive, rather they
are more than likely your classic 21st century
hipster who is constantly posting about this
‘rad new’ EP they are listening to by some
obscure artist, who more often than not is
actually pretty cool. This isn’t so much the
issue, rather it’s their incessant need to slag off
anything that they may consider mainstream,
generally after claiming that people don’t
give them the time of day. This is also a more
passive-aggressive technique where they
don’t directly insult other people’s music taste
rather they make slurs about things such as
the superficiality of pop music, which people
(such as myself) who listen to pop music get
a tad annoyed about. Disclaimer: This is in no
way targeted at hipsters, just everyone gets the
reference, even if its hipsters getting annoyed
at mainstream folk for our incessant desire to
listen to superficial music!

Next on the list is the mum tactic that is those
people who take it on themselves to point
out how much of an ungrateful, unhelpful,
failure at life you are. You know, like the classic
comment from the parentals regarding the
fact that you are such an ungrateful brat who
doesn’t deserve their love purely because
you forgot to put your plate in the dishwasher
that one time. Basically the same deal with
these guys, they have discovered some path
of ‘enlightenment’ which you don’t follow and
spend every waking moment commenting on
how this makes you unworthy of life. Maybe a
certain anti-abortionist comes to mind?

THOUGHTS UPON READING:
And yet again I don’t care.

2 8 OREN DA

THOUGHTS UPON READING:
Well I don’t like you either.

N OT SUR PRISIN G LY I don’t tend to have my opinion
though that may be because I’m very opinionated my
wonderful thing called Google exists and can basic
term for that… So my point after this strange piece o

f-Entitlement

MMY BATAGLENE
ng through as many social media platforms as possible, I come across
on how to live. This ranges to my lifestyle, travel choices, relationship
e majority, unless they seem too confrontational and likely to ruin the
Well at least for that 30 minutes. To me I seem to always be confronted
nd tactics, and for each one I have a different thought.

THE SECRET
PSYCHOLOGIST

THE ANGRY
MAN

These guys are where it’s at, the ones who
try to put you in a glorious state of cognitive
dissonance. For those of you who don’t
follow this term it’s (very basically) when two
or more beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours
don’t match. They do this by expertly posting
videos, statuses, articles (you get the gist) that
challenge many of our social norms by which
the ‘majority’ supposably lives by. Take many of
my lovely vegan friends who love to fill up my
news feed with videos of animal abuse by the
commercial farming industry. Effectively, and
annoyingly, making me question my choice
to eat not only meat, but all animal products.
Often with the comment ‘I don’t want mean to
push my life choices on anyone but…’

Does this really need that much explaining?
They rant and post and rant about some issue/
the fact they are misunderstood, which is
often so filled with rage that you can’t help not
read it for the laughs, and the of course their
completely legitimate, yet unsupported and
nowhere to be found, facts. You know like how
the lovely extremist feminists always seem to
post things regarding how women are being
discriminated against by God for making us
have children… umm what?
THOUGHTS UPON READING:
Hmm, why do I need you in my life..?

THOUGHTS UPON READING:
Avoid, avoid, avoid.

n swayed by the rantings of online opinion-pushers. Also not surprisingly, they do tend to push my buttons,
yself. And maybe people just annoy me in general. But the problem with every single technique is that this
cally off a perfect rebuttal to any argument that challenges my views. Hmm, I’m sure there’s a psychological
of writing? Well besides the obvious - people’s opinion on social media annoy me - it’s that in this day and
age your opinion really doesn’t mean anything without evidence to back it up. My evidence? Google it.
ORE N DA 29

GLITTERBUG IS ONE OF THOSE ALBUMS THAT BY
CONCEPT, SHOULD NOT WORK.
The third studio album from The Wombats, Glitterbug arises
from a four year gap after 2011â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stellar This Modern Glitch. At
the time This Modern Glitch received a lot of acclaim and was
regarded as the best effort by the Liverpool band to date. For
me personally, I did not think they could ever release an album
better than This Modern Glitch but rather they have peaked
after two albums.
So when they returned in April 2015 with Glitterbug, I was
quickly made to eat my own words.

3 2 OREN DA

01: emoticons

03: greek tragedy

Kicking off the album is Emoticons, a track that
seemed destined to be stuck in time based
purely on name, where in 2015 we are using
emoticons more and more to say how we feel.
Here the album slowly wades us in, with a
gentle synth and guitar riffs setting the tone
and going into the mind of Matthew Murphy
and his thoughts while hooking up with a girl.
The song really kicks into gear for the chorus,
allowing you to sing along while tapping along
to the relaxed drum beat.

The solid start to the album is then followed by
another strong track in Greek Tragedy, which
was released in January 2015 as the first new
song in two years. The song starts building
from the get go, with a repeatable synth riff
and Dan Haggis’ amazing drum intro really
kicking the song into motion. This song was
one that took a couple of listens to really have
me hooked, but when it does, you cannot help
but tap along to this earworm of a song. The
guitars strike in and out throughout the piece,
which oddly enough fits the idea of a rocky
relationship and the highs and lows of it.

THE TRACK DOES
NOT MESS AROUND, INSTANTLY PUTTING
YOU INTO A
02: give me a try
WONDERLAND
This track is then followed by my personal
favorite Give Me A Try, which layers the poppy
synth sound that The Wombats have perfected
from This Modern Glitch over the energetic
hooks and enjoyable lyrics that makes this
song so damn catchy. As Matt Murphy says
during the chorus; “We could be gigantic”
and during this song it really seems like the
band could be, with the chorus being the most
entertaining part as it is very hard not to get
your groove on during it. However it is the
lyrical content that really makes this song work
for me, as the song details one man’s attempts
to be in a relationship, jut echoing over and
over “Give me a try” and the music video
released for this in March 2015 also echoes
this sentiment, with the whole video about the
concept of Tinder dating.

04: be your shadow

The main flow of the album is then continued
in Be Your Shadow, the most current single as
of writing, being released in May 2015. The
track does not mess around, instantly putting
you into a wonderland of synth riffs and sing
along lyrics. The track is one meant to be
played at parties, and this is evident in the
main chorus, which while describing the perils
of a relationship also throws caution to the
wind and demands that they “be your shadow”
and remain together. The song is catchy as hell
as a result and is one of the strongest tracks on
the whole album.

ORE N DA 33

05: headspace
We then move into Headspace, a track which
I feel is one of the weaker ones on the album,
but yet a still very enjoyable song. With a
more dreamy feel, the song mixes things up
by adding in neat little sound features such
as an echo here and there and a bridge that
is more rocking than dreampop. I will say that
I warmed up to this track a lot more once
hearing it live, however I still feel they misstepped slightly with this track, as it seems
pretty repetitive throughout, with the lone
exception of the bridge.

THIS TRACK
IS JUST A
FUCKING
GOOD TIME

06: this is not a party

07: isabel

However, the album recovers very well with
a fantastic run of tracks in the mid section of
the album, starting with This Is Not A Party,
a track ironically made to blast at parties as
a great opener. With a rather stripped back
opening, the track builds during the opening
verse to craft the scene of a shitty party while
getting your foot tapping before the earworm
main chorus leaps in. But where the song
really kicks up a notch is the bridge where
Matt Murphy uses different vocal techniques
to break up the foot tapping with a heavier
interjection for a brief period before leaping
back to the main chorus.

The album then decides to take a break with
Isabel and make one of the most unique
Wombats songs to date. A slower and more
relaxed track, this track almost purely relies
on Matthew Murphy to carry the song on his
vocals and this he fucking delivers in drones.
Describing his talk with the titular girl, Murphy
talks about his seemingly toxic relationship
with her and how he’s much better “When
you’re ripping my life apart.” The song is an
emotional one and the second half of the
song where the track seemingly stops before
dropping again is one of the albums best
moments in my opinion. I have discussed
this song with some people who were not a
fan, which is understandable as the track is
seemingly oddly placed were it not for the
concept of the album. Regardless of your
opinion on this, the song is one that every
Wombats fan should at least give a listen to.

34 OREN DA

08: your body is a
weapon
We then hear things pick up with Your Body
Is A Weapon, the first song off the album
released all the way back in October 2013.
The song sounds like a throwback to the era
of This Modern Glitch, with the classic ahs
and guitar riffs leading the track, unlike most
of Glitterbug‘s first half, which relied a lot on
synth to make the songs work so well. Here this
track is just a fucking good time, with Haggis’
drumming and Tord Overland Knudsen’s
guitar work on display here in full force. Yet
despite being the oldest track on the album,
the song feels more towards the lower end
in terms of enjoyment when listening to the
album. Whether or not it is because it is not
as good as the other tracks or merely because
I have overplayed too much in the two years
since release is unknown by me.

09: the english
summer
With the chance of a throwback set up, we get
a full one in The English Summer, a fantastic
track which throws the synths out the window
and goes back to the days of A Guide To
Love, Loss and Desperation. The song is full
of heavy (for an indie band) guitar riffs and
Matt Murphy using the full range of his vocals
to back up the almost School Uniforms feel,
which was one of their stronger tracks off
their debut back in 2007. The song is the
shortest track on the album, at a measly two
and a half minutes, it leads perfectly into the
next track in the strongest pairing of tracks on
the album.

10: pink lemonade
That next track is Pink Lemonade, my personal
favorite track off the album (although Give Me
A Try is a close second). Launching straight
into the lyrics, the song is a rather relaxing
tune, with a catchy riff underpinning the
song throughout. But where the song hits top
form is the chorus, which is so earwormy it
almost caused me to forget all my notes for
my university exam earlier in the year. With
lyrics that are impossible to sing along with
because of the simplicity and catchiness of
them, the tune is built under a rise and fall
dynamic which uses synths to perfection to
get you grooving along with the song itself.
The bridge also changes things up enough to
feel fresh and not get bogged down halfway
through the song. With a more stripped feel,
the song builds up again to a great effect.

11: curveballs
That track moves us into the final song on the
regular album in Curveballs, the weakest track
on the album in my opinion. The Wombats
have always had an average track record with
final songs, with Schumacher the Champagne
being one of the weaker tracks on This
Modern Glitch, but here they again try to mix
things up with a more repetitive chorus, and
unfortunately it doesn’t pay off as well as
Isabel or The English Summer. While the song
itself is nothing new, a rather relaxed track
by Wombats‘ standards, with only a pick up
in the main chorus which works pretty well
and makes the chorus pretty singable it does
however succeed in finishing off the concept
of the album in an almost perfect way.

ORE N DA 35

Matthew Murphy noted before the release of Glitterbug that it was
about his long distance relationship with a girl in LA, and this kind of
shows looking at the album and how it is organized. Kicking off with
Emoticons we see the initial meeting and hookup between the two,
before the guy keeps trying to make a real relationship out of it, asking
her to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Give Me A Tryâ&#x20AC;&#x153;. In Greek Tragedy we then start to see the cracks
forming in the relationship between the two, a theme which is then
expanded on in Be Your Shadow where the guy notes that although
the relationship is bad he does not want to break it off. We then get
Headspace, which is the guy does break things off for a while to get
his distance and think things through. They then meet up much later in
This Is Not A Party some time after the breakup and they start talking
once more in Isabel where he notes that his life was better with her in
it, despite the mess that is their relationship.
From there we leap into Your Body Is A Weapon, which details their
exploits after rekindling their romance (read: lots and lots of sex) while
noting the cracks starting to form once more. The English Summer is
about how the guy goes back to England and realizes the brunt of the
relationship is bad for him and breaks it off, yet he still lives with her
and this new relationship is demonstrated in Pink Lemonade, where
she will bring other guys home out of spite. Finally in Curveballs, we
are left on an uncertain note as the guy hooks up with her once more
but he was doubting whether it was the right choice and notes the
deja vu of the whole situation. It is something which is a common
situation, with that basic relationship structure happening to a few
friends of mine and it is that relate-ability that makes the album and
more importantly the plotline of the album so wonderful.

3 6 OREN DA

12: sex & question
marks
The deluxe version of the album also has two
bonus tracks which do not contribute to the
album but are still a hell of a good time listening
to. Firstly we get Sex and Question Marks, which
while being a shorter song at just under two
minutes and twenty seconds, is a really good
listen. Harkening back to tracks like Your Body
Is A Weapon and The English Summer, the song
echoes the earlier work of the band and makes
a relaxing song that picks up when it needs to,
mostly in the chorus which is very hard itself
not to follow Tord’s lead and ooh along with it.

13: flowerball
We also get Flowerball, which isn’t quite up
to scratch with the rest of the album as a
whole with the exception of Curveballs but
the song is still enjoyable as hell in itself.
The song sounds less like The Wombats but
more standard fair English indie, yet there are
moments such as the catchy chorus and the
echo in “giving me nothing” which makes the
song enjoyable and hard not to sing along to.

THERE ARE NOT MANY BANDS THAT GET
BETTER WITH EACH RELEASE,
THE WOMBATS ARE CURRENTLY ONE OF THEM
IF THERE WAS AN ALBUM IN 2015 THAT I WAS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT, it was always going to
be the newest release from The Wombats, a band that I would put as my most favorite artist when
push comes to shove. Glitterbug delivers on every level imaginable and with standout tracks that
quickly pushed themselves to the top of my favorite songs, is easily my favorite album of this year
to date and maybe going so far as to say my favorite album in recent memory. The Wombats stick
to what they know here, and with catchy riffs and amazing vocals, they knock it out of the fucking
park once more. Whether they can keep this up for Album #4 is a big question, but I believe it
is very possible. There are not many bands that get better with each release, The Wombats are
currently one of them.
ORE N DA 37

Mix icing sugar, rum and red food colouring to
make the icing. Pipe onto the cupcakes and
just before serving, top with cola-flavoured
popping candy.

LAMINGTON
Spread a thick layer of strawberry jam onto the
top of the cupcake. Mix butter, hot water, icing
sugar and cocoa into a thick liquid. Dip the
cupcakes into the icing and coat with shredded
coconut.

You know what really grinds my gears? How often I hear
people say “I was born in the wrong era” or “I would
have loved living in that decade!”
I’ll admit, there have been some hella cool moments in history that it
would have been awesome to be a part of (hello, Woodstock!) but there
are always two sides to every story. I’m here to rain on your parade
people, to point out how living in 2015 ain’t so bad.

1900 - 1920

The early 1900’s: not only are we
on the brink of WWI (where over
17 million were killed) but in 1900
Australia, the BUBONIC PLAGUE hit
Sydney. That’s right - the plague! Not to
mention most housing in Sydney was
squalor and several families bunkered
down together in a cosy two-roomed
flat. There was no Glen 20, no way to
lock your contagious little brother
in his bedroom and hope for
the best. If someone near
you got the plague
you may as well
have started to
dig your grave.
Downtown
Abbey’s not
looking so
perfect
now is
it?

1920’s:

The 1920’s were a super hip time
with everyone dancing away the
troubles of the War and enjoying their
rebirth, right? WRONG. You know
who else liked to
congregate
for a

1930’s:

The following decade saw the Western
World suffer for their hedonistic
behavior with a little thing called the
Great Depression. A huge stock market
crash in 1929 wiped investors
of the face of the
Earth,

basically everyone (slight exaggeration)
was unemployed, no one had money
to spend and therefore the economy
inherited tortoise like qualities and
sloooowed down to a near stop. But
hey, they wore cute hats.

1940’s:

Remember World War I, the Great War,
the War to end all Wars? Yeah, well
a little bit of false advertising there
because by the 1940’s the World was
experiencing the most wide-spread
and horrific conflict in the history of
man-kind. Hollywood would have you
believe that it was a nostalgic, romantic
time-period, which I guess is kind of
true. If there was a very good chance
my partner will get blown up tomorrow,
I’d sneak in a lot of sappy, lovey dovey
moments too. Please don’t think I’m
being insensitive. It’s just really hard
to take anyone seriously that
wishes they lived in the 40’s.
Etiquette is nice, but I’m
sure Hitler opened the
door for his wife too.

WRONG ERA

common cause? The Ku Klux Klan;
racism and segregation were rampart
and in some parts of the world, merely
existing was down right dangerous.
So, enjoy your 21st century Gatsby
parties with your legal alcohol (yeah,
remember prohibition?) and your
digitalized jazz music and be grateful
that the only white gowns we see
today are our wedding dresses.

ORE N DA 41

1950’s:

This decade
seems to be
particularly
popular among
vintage lovers
everywhere. I
totally get the
appeal, who doesn’t
love printed wallpaper
with matching pastel
appliances and a white
picket fence? But do you
know what I love even more
than that? I love being friends
with people of colour and various
ethnic backgrounds. I thrive on being
a woman with a primary, secondary
AND tertiary education. I like being free
to love whoever I want and think for
myself. I fucking love Amazon, okay?

1970’s:
1960’s:

It’s all fun and games until someone
gets lynched. Actually, it’s no fun at all.
In the following decade it seems white
males still ruled. Disgustingly, racism
was growing because, heaven forbid,
black people were fighting back. Peace
marches resulted in bloodbaths and
white sympathisers were being hunted
down and killed, their bodies displayed
in the street. JFK: assassinated. RFK:
assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr:
assassinated. What a time to be alive.

Imagine, if you
can, two children
who have grown up in the
same street and collected a number
of water bomb balloons. Some of them
they have filled with water, others
remain deflated but on standby. The
children play with their water bombs
but never pop them, they threaten the
neighborhood and each other with
them, but never throw them. Now
imagine those water bomb balloons
are nuclear weapons.

“If that’s not a historical tragedy,
I don’t know what is.”

4 2 OREN DA

1980’s:

A long
winded but
necessary metaphor
to describe the Cold War in
the 70’s when political tensions were
mounting between the Soviet Union
and the West.
Also a little closer to home, while the
rest of the World was enjoying cable
TV, the rich kids in Aussie schools
were more popular than ever because
now they could get channel seven… in
COLOUR!

It took the
explosion of
the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power
Plant to finally
impress upon Russia
and the US that their
nuclear toys should be
taken a little more seriously.
The ‘Gay Cancer’ plague or AIDS,
as doctors, scientists and human
beings with any shred of respect refer
to it was also discovered during this
decade. And let’s not forget that John
Lennon, whose passion, preaching
and glasses closely resembled that
of Gandhi, was assassinated. Also like
Gandhi (Was he Gandhi reborn? We’ll
never know).

1990’s:

Although many of us did live through
the nineties here’s a quick reminder of
why we should be thankful this decade
has been and gone: Justin Timberlake’s
bleached ringlets closely resembled
two-minute noodles… and we liked it.
If that’s not a historical tragedy, I don’t
know what is.

So let’s all appreciate the architecture, celebrate moments that shaped the world and
take inspiration from fashion faux pas past. But more importantly, lets be thankful for the
freedom and technology we have now and spare a thought for those who don’t. Maybe we
should stop dreaming about what we missed and start making moments today that will
see the people of tomorrow wishing they could be here too.
ORE N DA 43

The Experienced Quitter
WORDS BY KATIE FORAN

4 4 OREN DA

TODAY I WO K E U P U N E M P LOYED.
I kept my eyes closed a little longer, eager
to feel the butterflies set but they didn’t. I
opened them to find the sun filtering through
the cracks in my blinds as I stretch my waking
muscles. Today is the first day I have woken up
unemployed in seven years.
I lay in my bed for a while waiting for the panic
to set in. What have I done?
After a horrendous, eight-day stint in a new
job I made the decision that I just couldn’t do
it. It was not an easy decision. I had just quit
two jobs to take on this new one; I recently
bought a new car I was still paying off and most
importantly, what sort of pathetic loser quits a
job after just eight days?
My mother tried to reassure me, “Yes, it is
pathetic,” She said (She’s not a sugar-coater),
“But it’s also brave, when you know, you know”
(Ten points to Gryffindor!).
Up until two weeks ago, I had never quit a job
before. Now I have quit three. I’m quite the
experienced quitter, you could say - A new skill
for the resume.
I think I’m in a state of shock. I should be
freaking out right now. I am not a creature of
change or spontaneity; I am a planner. I own a
diary (which I take everywhere), a yearly wall
planner and a monthly desk planner and I take

them very seriously. I constantly check my
finances (I have six weeks to get a job before
I can’t afford my car anymore), I have a reserve
fund that is not to be touched unless there is
a dire emergency for example, the end of the
world.
I don’t just walk around quitting jobs here and
there. My mantra is not “everything will work
out in the end” - everything will only work out
if it is well funded, informed and planned.
You may have summised by now that I am not
a spontaneous person. You would be correct.
Whilst I currently have no major financial
commitments (beep beep – except the car) it is
just not normal for me to be so… free.
That’s what this tastes like right now; freedom
with a hint of both boredom and excitement.
Maybe I can finally finish writing that novel
I’ve been working on, or reading those books
I bought a year ago. Perhaps this is the perfect
opportunity to, oh I don’t know, network and
intern in a field I actually want to end up in.
Possibly, somewhere deep down, the reason
I’m not freaking out as much as I expected is
because I knew that this was the right decision.
In not working, I can actually get a lot of work
done.
Maybe I needed this. Maybe, I’m going to close
my eyes for a little longer and enjoy this.

ORE N DA 45

On Living YOUR Truth.
WORDS BY JON TALBOT

“NOT ALL THOSE WHO WANDER ARE LOST.”
Everyone who doesn’t live under a rock has
heard the quote from JRR Tolkein’s epic
trilogy, the Lord of the Rings. But for some
reason, many people see people like myself,
a vagabond without a permanent address
for the past 3 years, and assume that I must
have been confused to end up where I am
today. Despite actively making decisions that
taken me to all seven continents working on
various projects, I have found myself having
to deflect the notion that my traveling ways
are because I am somehow ‘lost’ time and
time again.
What does that even really mean, saying
someone seems ‘lost?’ I’d argue that is one of
those things you just shouldn’t say to people
you don’t know very well unless they’re
standing on the corner of a street, map in

4 6 OREN DA

hand. Frankly, it’s a bit like telling someone
that you have figured out the answers to all
of the big questions and are somehow living
the answer while the rest of us walk around
in the dark. But I digress.
I have met many people I would classify as
using travel as a form of escapism. Distance
makes the whole “out of sight, out of mind”thing much easier, but it doesn’t actually
solve any problems. Ignoring something
doesn’t allow you to address the underlying
issue, and when you return to your old life
or the problem pops back into your life, you
haven’t properly processed or let it go. It’s
like bottling a fizzy drink, taking it in your
backpack, and expecting it not to explode
when you finally open it. But that’s not me.
And it isn’t most of the nomadic people I’ve
met, either.

I travel because I love to see and experience
new things. I meet new people almost
daily from all corners of the world, many of
them having their first language different
from my own. Each interaction presents a
chance to try draw as much perspective and
understanding from another person as is
socially appropriate. These are the things I
value, and as such, I make them my reality.
Am I happy all the time? No, of course not.
Nobody is, and it’s irrational to think any
self-reflective person ever could be 100%
blissful without exception. Ask anyone
who’s living their dream, be it a dream job,
lifestyle, or romance. Bumps in the road
happen. Sacrifices must be made in order
to do what you love. Every high paying job
has it’s administrative work. Life on the road
leads to ephemeral relationships. Even the
best couples fight. But you take the good
with the bad.
Could I be more content than I am with the
decisions I’ve made and the life I’ve been
living? I highly doubt it. So before you are
so quick to label the motives or actions of
another person, learn the full story. Or don’t.

But remember that a lot of us intentionallyhomeless aren’t doing things for lack of a
better alternative. We are living the exact life
we choose for ourselves.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Mickey
Smith’s critically-acclaimed short film, “The
Dark Side of the Lens”:
“I never want to take this for granted, so I try
to keep motivations simple, real, positive.
If I only scrape out a living, at least it’s a
living worth scraping. If there’s no future in
it, this is a present worth remembering. For
fires of happiness or waves of gratitude... for
everything that brought us to that point in
life, to that moment in time to do something
worth remembering with a photograph or a
scar. I feel genuinely lucky to, hand on heart,
to say I love what I do. And I may never be a
rich man but if I live long enough, I’ll certainly
have a tale or two for the nephews. And I dig
the thought of that.”
I hope whatever you do, you can say the
same.